Kenzie Ziegler is notrious for leaking her music before it officially releases. She teased a portion of her latest single, “paper” two years before the single came out. And now fans of the singer and former Dance Moms alum are anxiously awaiting a new song that she’s penned about her dad, Kurt Ziegler. According to the 18-year-old, her “daddy issues” served as the inspiration for the emotional ballad.
Kenzie Ziegler first shared the song about her dad, Kurt Ziegler, on TikTok
Kenzie first teased the song about her dad back in 2022 via her TikTok page. On Thanksgiving day, she made it clear that she wasn’t pulling any punches with her gut-wrenching lyrics. “Trust issues/ I’m soaking tissues/ Lying to my sister like I never miss you/ Say you’ll visit/ Empty promise/ God I wish that for once you’d be honest.” Though the “Donuts” singer only released a small snippet of the demo, it recieved a ton of interest. The singer’s fans quickly commented, praising the song. To date, the video has racked up more than 400,000 likes.
The ‘Dance Moms’ alum admits that she has daddy issues
But just what inspired Kenzie to write such a deeply personal song? Long-time fans of the singer-songwriter will recall that her mom, Melissa Gisoni, and dad got divorced when she was just four. In an interview with the Zach Sang Show, the dancer admitted that Kurt was never really around. However, she didn’t realize how much Kurt’s absence affected her until she got older.
“When I was younger, I never really thought about it in a bad way,” Kenzie explained. “I would make jokes and be like, ‘Yeah, I have daddy issues, whatever.’ ‘I don’t have a dad, like, whatever.’ but it was just a way to cope. But I I think the second I like turned 18, I was like, sh*t like this is actually a lot of built up emotion that I never actually like talked about and explored.
Kenzie explains that the song about her dad was born from a therapy session
Once Kenzie realized that she had daddy issues, she started to explore her feelings in therapy. It was then that her therapist encouraged her to write a letter to Kurt. At first, the “100 degrees” singer was resistant, but eventually she caved, merely changing the format to a song rather than a letter. “I was just planning on sending it to her and being like, ‘Here’s my letter to my dad,’ but it turned out to my favorite song that I’ve done,” Kenzie explained.
How did Kenzie’s sister, Maddie Ziegler, react to the song?
Kenzie admits that she’s a bit scared for her dad to hear the tune, but she hopes that he does hear it. The singer did, however, play the song in its entirety to her mom and older sister, Maddie Ziegler. According to the former reality TV star, Gisoni was bawling the whole time she was listening to the ballad. Maddie was also in tears and speechless when she heard the tune. “I played it for my sister as well,” Kenzie revealed. “I FaceTimed her and played it for her in the studio, and she couldn’t talk. She was not talking. She was crying, and she was like, ‘I can’t do this right now.’ and like hung up, but everyone loves it.”
When will the singer release the song about her dad?
Kenzie may have shared a bit of the song’s demo, but she hasn’t yet shared the name of the song. She also doesn’t know if the tune will make it on her upcoming album, which she’s revealed may come out as early as Summer 2023. That said, she did promise to release the song about her dad in its entirety prior to her album. In the singer’s own words: “I think it deserves its own total thing.”
